The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is seeking public comment on a draft Current Intelligence Bulletin (CIB) Promoting Health and Preventing Disease and Injury through Workplace Tobacco Policies. The public comment period is open for 30 days, closing on September 15, 2014.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of EPA’s oversight and enforcement program over the injection of fluid into wells associated with oil and gas production found that EPA is not doing enough to safeguard drinking water around the nearly 200,000 wells where fracking wastewater is injected deep underground. GAO concluded that EPA needs to take actions to ensure enforcement of regulations [...]

California’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) has developed a draft regulatory proposal for a new Cal/OSHA Process Safety Management Standard to “strengthen regulatory oversight” on California’s oil refineries.

Please see below for our monthly update on new OSHA compliance assistance resources, including Web resources and publications. See the New Compliance Assistance Products page for a continually updated listing of new resources.

A recent NIOSH Science Blog tackles food industry safety in a post entitled, “A Wrench in the Gear: Lockout/tagout in the food industry,” which can be found at http://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/​2014/07/07/loto/​

On September 11, OSHA announced its final rule adopting new requirements for reporting severe injuries
and updates list of industries exempt from record-keeping requirements. ASSE opposed the provisions related to reporting severe injuries. For ASSE members, a summary of new recordkeeping changes was prepared by Adele Abrams, Esq.

OSHA has published an RFI stating that the Agency is reviewing its overall approach to managing chemical exposures in the workplace and seeks stakeholder input about more effective and efficient approaches that addresses challenges found with the current regulatory approach.

During the questioning period of the March 21, 2014, public hearing for OSHA's proposed rule on respirable crystalline silica, OSHA's staff asked ASSE's witness, Adele L. Abrams, to supplement the Society's comments by elaborating on OSHA's proposal to require a “competent person” to be responsible for establishing and overseeing written access control plans where respirators and protective clothing [...]

Friday, September 26, 2014
Based on the development of Position Statement on the issue by ASSE’s Transportation Practice Specialty, ASSE offered the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) support for its call to adopt measures that can encourage states to reduce the legal standard of driver impairment due to alcohol consumption, as measured by blood-alcohol content (BAC), from 0.08% to 0.05%.

Friday, September 26, 2014
On September 11, OSHA announced its final rule adopting new requirements for reporting severe injuries
and updates list of industries exempt from record-keeping requirements. ASSE opposed the provisions related to reporting severe injuries.

Wednesday, September 03, 2014
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), in partnership with the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety (LMRIS), the National Safety Council (NSC), and the Society for Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR), will host NOIRS 2015 on May 19 to 21, 2015 at the Camp Dawson Training Center in Kingwood, West Virginia.​

Tuesday, July 22, 2014
OSHA has issued a memorandum on its Policy Background on the Temporary Worker Initiative to its regional administrators. From Tom Galassi, Director of Enforcement Programs, the memo was posted July 21 on the OSHA web site. Temporary workers has been a key initiative of OSHA this year, as the Agency’s web page on the issue indicates.